A new environmental satellite,
NOAA-M, is planned for launch June 24 from Vandenberg Air Force
Base, Calif., NOAA and NASA announced today. NOAA-M will lift
off aboard an Air Force Titan II launch vehicle at 11:22 a.m.
PDT (2:22 p.m. EDT). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) is an agency of the
Department of Commerce.

"The NOAA-M satellite will
improve weather forecasting and monitor environmental events
around the world," said VADM Conrad
Lautenbacher, USN (ret.), under secretary of commerce for
oceans and atmosphere, and NOAA administrator.

"The satellite will enable continuity of data for monitoring
events such as El Niño,
droughts,
volcanic ash, fires,
and floods. In
addition, it will support the international COSPAS-SARSAT
system by providing search and rescue capabilities essential
for detection and location of ships, aircraft, and people in
distress."

NOAA-M is the third in a series
of five Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) with improved
imaging and sounding capabilities that will operate over the
next 10 years. Like other NOAA satellites, NOAA-M will collect
environmental data and transmit the information to users around
the world to enhance weather forecasting. The data will be used
primarily by NOAA's National
Weather Service for its weather and climate forecasts. Longer-term
data records from the NOAA satellites will contribute to the
understanding of climate change and President Bush's climate
change research initiatives. NOAA-M will be re-named NOAA-17
after achieving orbit.

The polar-orbiting satellites
monitor the entire Earth and track atmospheric variables and
global weather patterns affecting the weather and climate of
the United States. The satellites provide atmospheric data and
cloud images, visible and infrared radiometer data for imaging
purposes, radiation measurements, and temperature and moisture
profiles. The polar orbiters' ultraviolet sensors also measure
ozone levels in the atmosphere and are able to detect the ozone
hole which occurs over Antarctica from mid-September to mid-November.

Each day, these satellites send
global measurements to NOAA's
Command and Data Acquisition station computers, adding vital
information to forecasting models, especially over the oceans,
where conventional data are lacking.

NOAA's environmental satellite
system is composed of two types of satellites: Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)
for national, regional, short-range warning and "now-casting";
and the polar-orbiting satellites for global forecasting and
environmental monitoring. Both GOES and POES are necessary for
providing a complete global-weather-monitoring system. Both systems
also carry search and rescue instruments to relay signals from
aviators and mariners in distress. These satellites are operated
by NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information
Service in Suitland, Md.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Md., is responsible for the construction, integration,
launch and verification testing of the spacecraft, instruments
and unique ground equipment. NOAA receives operational control
of the NOAA-M spacecraft 21 days after launch. NASA's comprehensive
on-orbit verification period will last until 45 days after launch.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., built
the spacecraft, under contract with Goddard.

Data from the NOAA spacecraft
are used by researchers within NASA's Earth Science Enterprise,
a long-term research program designed to study Earth's land,
oceans, atmosphere, ice and life as a total integrated system.
In addition, these data are helping NASA scientists design instruments
for follow-on missions.

Editors Note: A complete NOAA-M
video package will be broadcast during the NASA TV video file
scheduled for noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and midnight on Sunday,
June 23 and Monday, June 24. NASA TV is broadcast on GE2, transponder
9C, C-band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency
is 3880MHZ. Polarization is vertical and audio monaural at 6.8MHZ.